My breathing came in short wheezing bursts, and was the only natural sound that could be heard within the dead of the stillness; so daunting…gripping. I tried my eyes, opening slowly; wearily as I shuddered at the apprehensive, deep suffocating darkness that surrounded me. The black that enveloped me was unnervingly quiet, save for the sound of my heart drumming in my very ears.
I tried my utmost to keep calm, slowing my heart’s rhythm gradually by controlling of my breathing. As I became more centered, my eyes fell upon a faint light that hinted in the corner of my eye. Glancing to the left, I confirmed the sliver that spread itself slowly and ominously across what appeared to be a pitch black canvass not a metre away. With every move, a dull, soft ripping sound followed the light along its predetermined path, adding to the already menacing atmosphere. A foreign, yet soothing whisper inside my mind helped me remain calm, pacifying any fear that could surface.
The light maneuvered, spreading itself in a downward diagonal cobweb, breaking into clusters of a variety of colours that began taking a specific shape and intricate design that I could not fathom as my eyes still adjusted to the surroundings. The ripping grew louder with every passing second, and I now found that I could move. Turning gradually, and fearfully, I found a duplicate light mimicking the same pattern on an opposite canvass the same distance from me, and added to the overbearing, cracking sound of the ripping through the air surrounding me.
As I turned full circle, the spreading cobwebs began to take a comprehensive shape, noticing the opposing canvasses shaping into the solid structures of papered walls. The webs reached a halt at an adjacent point, and I watched it move laterally across a makeshift wooden floor, illuminating my immediate space to reveal my bare feet.
The ripping remained a consistent drawl as the cobwebs created a carpet hallway, along with empty picture frames that only reflected the dull flowery wall paper they hung upon. I watched the light travel away from me to finish itself at a wall on either side; it was hard to believe that this was a place I once called home.
The ripping sound faded, but was replaced by a buzz-flickering of a broken, hanging light bulb about five metres to my left. I walked gingerly over to under the broken light fitting, shuddering as the stagnant cold air pierced at my bare arms and feet. I wrapped my arms around me, and waited with terrified apprehension; she always expected me beneath it.
The patter of footsteps sounded behind me. Instinctively, I glanced around me, but found nothing. I heard them again, this time closer, and I glanced left. Again to the right, even closer. My heart rate increased as fear began to clutch me.
A ghostly child’s voice echoed lightly from down the hall, travelling towards me like a living entity, growing louder with an eerie atmosphere passing me by, and died instantaneously. Another sound came in the form of a whisper, and repeated itself as I looked around frantically to find the source. My mind and heart racing, the voice said: “Mommy?” and echoed itself repeatedly, swirling around the hallway as a ghost toys with its victims.
The youthful voice was all too familiar, yet the presence it had shook me to a state of fear that one could not begin to comprehend. How she always found me was inconceivable, and this time, she chose a place far too close to the heart. And she always found me.
She continued to echo around me, and appeared to be darkly entertained by her ruse as her giggles now poured over and around me, the laughter penetrating my conscious, surfacing my anxiety. The soothing whisper came again, reminding me of my calm. Focusing on my breathing, I slowed it down as much as possible as her voice continued to circle me. Whispering, echoing, elevating…dissipating…growing quiet…even quieter…
Silence…
“Mommy!” The familiar, infant-eerie voice came from behind me, and a cold hand grabbed my arm, forcing a reactive yelp.
